Having quality management accounts can be beneficial to your business as they can help you to grow by making it more efficient and hopefully more profitable.

Management accounts are a set of detailed accounts prepared to illustrate the company’s performance. The goals of the accounts are to provide key financial information which will help with short term financial decisions and in planning for long term development.

The main advantage of having management accounts is being able to control the business. If you want to make projections, cash flows or be able to be accepted for finance, management accounts are an essential starting point. They will provide you with the up to date information throughout the year to give you accurate feedback of performance. If you find that your business is growing rapidly and want to be able to plan for the future, we recommend that you put in the controls and ways of reporting now to help guide the growth.

Typically, the accounts are prepared on a quarterly basis; it is not uncommon however to have monthly reports supplied to the business.

If you feel that additional guidance is needed as your business starts to grow, then please get in contact with us so we can help you make the right the decisions. Please visit our website for a complete list of our support services Click Here.

This year’s challenge was a 40 mile walk around Rutland. We started at around 10pm on Saturday and continued through the night, finishing at 3pm on Sunday afternoon. This works out as 18 hours allowing for the clocks going back which was fortunate as we had another hour to walk!

The walk really was a challenge and, of the 17 who started, 11 finished the entire 40 miles.

We were walking for the majority of the time besides the two well deserved pub stops, a breakfast stop and a few 5 minute breaks.

It was an experience to say the least and I did enjoy the walk besides the dark, cold, wind, rain and taking very unnecessary detours over muddy fields!

An amazing breakfast was provided by John and Ingrid Ferry which the team at Torr Waterfield are very grateful for.

This was definitely our toughest challenge to date.

We would like to thank everybody that has supported and sponsored us. The walk has raised jut over £7,500 so far for the charity Coping With Cancer.

There is still time to donate. It would be incredible if you could show some support for the team and make a donation small or large, it’s all for a great cause. Please please visit our total giving page www.totalgiving.co.uk/mypage/torrwaterrutland18

Thanks from all the Team.

There are lots of photos from the walk on our Facebook page but here are a few of our favourites.

So, we already knew about some of the announcements before the chancellor, the Rt. Hon. Philip Hammond MP, spoke yesterday, so much so he even made a joke about toilets and leaks. As ever there was good news and bad news for taxpayers, a full summary is on our website but here are some good news/bad news highlights:

Capital allowances – a new Structures and Buildings Allowance (SBA) for non-residential buildings on eligible construction costs on or after 29 October 2018, this will enable business to claim 2% pa on cost

The corporation tax rate, as previously announced, will drop to 17% from 2020

Bad news

Capital allowances – the writing down allowance (WDA) on special rate pools, for things such as cars with CO2 emissions of over 130g/km, reducing from 8% to 6% pa

Capital allowances – discontinued 100% allowances for energy & water efficient equipment, although you will still be able to claim AIA’s

National Living Wage (previously National Minimum Wage) for over 25’s increasing from £7.83 per hour to £8.21 (which also has an effect on the auto-enrolment pension contribution cost)

Off payroll working (IR35) currently in force for public companies will be introduced on private medium and large companies (although not until 2020) – PAYE and NIC will be deducted from the deemed employee and Employers National Insurance will be payable by the company.

Stamp Duty – First time buyers of a qualifying shared ownership in a property of £500,000 or less will get an exemption from SDLT and this is backdated to 22 November 2017 (i.e. you can claim a refund)

Stamp duty refunds – the time to make a claim for a refund on the 3% supplement on buying your new home before selling your old home, has been extended from 3 months to 12 months from the sale of your old home (although the filing deadline for SDLT returns is reduced to 14 days after the effective rate of transaction)

Capital Gains – annual exemption increased from £11,700 to £12,000 pa

Bad news

Rent a room relief – you will actually need to have shared the premises during part of the time you are claiming the relief, effectively excluding income from places like Airbnb

Entrepreneurs relief – to qualify, the minimum period is extended from 12 months to 24 months

Capital Gains – lettings relief will only apply when the property is in shared ownership with a tenant, in reality this means very few people will qualify and therefore only get private residence relief on sale of their home, however this is subject to consultation and may well change

The above is only a brief summary of the proposed changes. For a more detailed breakdown please visit our website here.

If you have any questions about the budget, or how it will impact you or your business, please contact us on 0116 242 3400 and we will be happy to help.

With just under 3 weeks until the 40 mile walk around Rutland, I completed my first practice walk. The walk will take place on the 27th of October and should take around 16 hours to complete. The team will be completing the walk for the chosen charity Coping with cancer. For previous updates read the blogs before.

We started just after 9am starting at Bradgate and finished at around 4:30 which calculates to 7 and a half hours including a pub stop. We visited the three peaks, the first being Bradgate park then Beacon Hill and Bardon Hill. The views from the three peaks made the walk worth it. All together I think we walked just under 18 miles. I’m sure the challenge leader took us the wrong way so I think we walked a bit further than planned.

The weather was perfect for the practice walk and thankfully it didn’t rain. I’m not too sure how difficult the 40 mile walk will be because it’s through the night and in the dark. The worst part was the hills which seemed like they didn’t end but hopefully there won’t be any in Rutland were the 40 Mile walk will take place.

I personally found the 18 mile walk possible but I’m not too sure I could do double the amount. Even though I’m going to give it a go and hopefully complete it all. It’s easier to walk when listening to someone tell stories and time does fly and you don’t realise how far you have actually walked.

The team will have to prepare for the walk over night with head torches and plenty of food. At least the walk will be a challenge and I’m looking forward to see how many people take part.

If you would like to show support and sponsor us no matter how small or large you can do so by donating on our Total giving page here.

The government has decided not to proceed with plans to abolish Class 2 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) from April 2019.

Class 2 NICs are currently paid at a rate of £2.95 per week by self-employed individuals with profits of £6,205 or more per year. The government had planned to scrap the Class 2 contribution and had been investigating ways in which self-employed individuals with low profits, could maintain their State Pension entitlement if this inexpensive contribution had been abolished.

In a written statement to MPs, Robert Jenrick, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, stated that:

‘This change was originally intended to simplify the tax system for the self-employed. We delayed the implementation of this policy in November to consider concerns relating to the impact on self-employed individuals with low profits. We have since engaged with interested parties to explore the issue and further options for addressing any unintended consequences.’

‘A significant number of self-employed individuals on the lowest profits would have seen the voluntary payment they make to maintain access to the State Pension rise substantially. Having listened to those likely to be affected by this change we have concluded that it would not be right to proceed during this parliament, given the negative impacts it could have on some of the lowest earning in our society.’

If you want to discuss any of this further please get on touch, 0116 2423400 or info@torrwaterfield.co.uk

As you may well know we are planning to walk 40 miles around Rutland water and surrounding villages, starting at 10pm on Saturday 27th October and finishing hopefully at 3pm Sunday afternoon. Please read our previous blog for more info here.

Last weekend I plotted a 15 mile practice walk around Charnwood ,including Bradgate Park, Beacon Hill and Bardon Hill. According to Heather’s app, the actual distance was 17 and a quarter miles.

It was a lovely sunny day for walking, so of course we stopped half way in a beer garden to refuel.

The 17 (and a quarter) miles took 7 hours (including the pub stop). So by my calculations, the 40 mile challenge will take about 16 hours… great!

I have to say, when we got back to the Bradgate Park carpark, the thought of going round again (and a bit further) sounded like a stupid idea.

But hopefully with a bit more training over the next 3 weeks, we will all get round and raise lots of money for Coping with Cancer, our charity of the year.

Last year the team, friends and family took part in a 2 day challenge, walking 23 miles per day along The Llyn Peninsula. This year we are challenging ourselves even further by trekking 40 miles around Rutland overnight. This means no time to rest as the team begins the challenge at 10pm on Saturday 27 October and will continue non-stop (except for a few pub breaks!) through into the late afternoon of Sunday 28 October, taking a total of 16 to 18 hours to complete.

After parking our cars Mike Waterfield and Stu Caney will lead the team along the south end of Rutland Water before walking up the west side. This will be a good starting point as it will prevent the group from getting lost in the dark as Rutland Water will be on our right hand side for a couple of hours (around 6 miles).

Shortly after midnight and a short break to recharge, we will cross over the River Gwash, pass through Braunston in Rutland and then make our way south whilst the sun rises. The clocks will have gone back by this point which means we have an early finish! Matt Smith and other members of Torr Waterfield will be meeting us once we reach Morcott at around 9am, when we will then follow the River Welland from Barrowden after breakfast for 6 miles. This will lead us to the built up village of Ketton where we can stop for a bite to eat at around 1pm before eventually getting back to the starting point for 3pm.

We will also be meeting a few others in Ketton who were not able to join us for the whole 40 miles. They will be walking the last 5 miles with us and celebrating the success of completing the challenge!

For any long distance walking challenge there is only one form of training that will ensure you perform well – walking! So in the lead up to the challenge we will be doing a number of training walks to ensure we can endure the whole 40 miles! Our first training walk was last Saturday starting from Bradgate Park and walking 15 miles which took around 6 hours.

Over the coming weeks we will be posting other blogs to keep you updated on how our training is going and once we complete the challenge we will let you know how tough it was and how much money we raised in total.

A married couple or civil partnership can apply to transfer 10% of the income tax personal allowance from one to the other. Although called the marriage ‘allowance’, it is a transfer rather than an additional allowance.

To qualify for the allowance, neither of the partners can be higher rate taxpayers and cannot be claiming the married couple’s allowance. To benefit as a couple, one person should be earning below the personal allowance (£11,850 for 2018/19).

The maximum tax saving in 2018/19 is £237.00 (10% of the £11,850 personal allowance at 20%).

How to apply

The application for the transfer is made by the person who wants to transfer part of their allowance to their partner. It is absolutely fundamental that the recipient of the allowance does not make the claim.

If your income is predictable, you can apply during the tax year here. If you apply during the tax year, the claim is in place until withdrawn or through either death or divorce.

If your income is unpredictable, because you are self-employed for example, you can make an application after the tax year on your Self-Assessment Tax Return. This claim must be done each year – it does not remain in place for future years.

Backdated claims

Currently, you can backdate marriage allowance claims to include any tax year since 5 April 2015 if you were eligible. This means you could claim back as much as £662 if you can claim for 15/16, 16/17 and the 17/18 tax year.

The Married couple’s allowance

If either you or your partner were born before 6 April 1935 you may benefit more from the Married Couple’s Allowance instead, which you can read more about here.

For further information or help on the above, please call the office on 0116 242 3400 or email us at info@torrwaterfield.co.uk

The Construction Industry Scheme is a method of deducting tax from subcontractors in the building sector. Contractors deduct a percentage of the money owed on their payments to subcontractors and pass it over directly to HMRC. The amounts are effectively taxed at source as the sub-contractor does not get the money. The deducted CIS tax counts as advance payments towards the tax and National Insurance contributions that will be calculated upon completion of the subcontractor’s self-assessment tax return.

What do I need to complete a return?

Monthly CIS returns need to be submitted by the contractor to HMRC to disclose the amount of CIS which has been deducted and is therefore due to be paid over to HMRC.

The contractor needs from the subcontractor an invoice which states the money they are owed.

The invoice should split out the materials and labour with CIS only being deductible on the labour element of the invoice. CIS is deducted at 20% providing the subcontractor has a UTR (unique tax reference) number which should be displayed on the invoice. If there is no UTR number then CIS will be deducted at 30%.

How do I do it?

CIS periods run from the 6th of the month to the 5th of the month following – for example, 6th March – 5th April. The CIS return then needs to be submitted and the liability paid over within two weeks of the period end – 19th April for example in order to avoid facing late filing charges. The return can be manually entered under the contractor’s logon on the HMRC website or it can be submitted via numerous accounting software programmes. The CIS is payable to HMRC upon payment of the invoice and not the date the invoice is issued, so it should only be included on the CIS return at this point. Once the return has been submitted to HMRC, statements should be sent out to all subcontractors for their own records.

If you wish to discuss any of this further then please get in touch 0116 2423400 or info@torrwaterfield.co.uk